Restaurant review: Flip side of fame Ramadan might not be the perfect time to visit restoration plots, warns Gamal Nkrumah Rendezvous and the Pyramid's Café, twin restaurants overlooking a swimming pool overshadowed by the Great Pyramid of Khufu, have a hint of monsters-on-the-loose and are lip-smackingly gory. The waiters assume the role of a vivid cast of complex, contemptible characters grappling their way towards stardom or rather suspension. A scrumptious meal can overwhelm quibbling misgivings about a five-star hotel's classification, and especially if it is in the vicinity of the Giza Pyramids, the sole survivor of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Amarante Pyramids is packaged as legend, but in reality it is more of a tip in a travelogue, so to speak. In formal terms, it was the dreamlike home of the late dean of Egyptian theatre Youssef Wahbi. He was the leading star of the 1930s and 1940s, and he is remembered for such classics as Eternal Glory (1937) and Awlad Al-Zawat -- The Spoilt Brats of Aristocrats (1932). His former mansion is now transformed into a plush hotel and the hoarse, thundering voice of the master's spirit, his trademark, hovers all over his residence. Today, Wahbi is less a ghostly fictional creation of one of his screen characters. He is much more a guiding sensibility throughout. History soon takes a backseat to romantic settings. Wahbi has hardly left decadence and indulgence unexplored. No expense has been spared to spruce up his residence. Classily put together, clients are approached with something of Wahbi's unsqueamish equanimity. There are dark shades of Kafka lurking in the corners. We are all at times in the hands of a merciless headwaiter. And, here he comes. He couldn't have possibly been responsible for clearing out Wahbi's house and turning it into a hotel. He keeps his eye on the menu. Matters came to a head with my mentioning of the historical context. I trotted out the oft-repeated refrain that Wahbi's villa was constructed sometime in the 1940s. "Medium rare, did you say, sir?" I am left with a million questions hanging. The restaurants of Amarante Pyramids are filled with images, albeit fading ones, from a bygone era. But diners seeking pointers to the future cuisine of Cairenes should look elsewhere. The older cosmology of place spirits and guardian ghosts is fast disappearing. The intricate web of cultural and gastronomical influences from East and West that had become interwoven in Egyptian society over the three decades since Wahbi's death intervene. We all dream of secret gardens. Layalina (Our Nights), the Lebanese restaurant is undergoing restoration. It would have been an ideal setting for a Ramadan Iftar. The Fire Place Restaurant, serving Mexican-inspired dishes, isn't quite appropriate for Ramadan, either. But then Amarante Pyramids wasn't exactly a synthesis. Its terrific stuff is somewhat reminiscent of Wahbi's fearsome tantrums in one of his terse, adrenaline- charged plots that puncture explosive set pieces such as high society dinner parties. For good measure, I decide to drop in at Amarante Pyramids not so much for chefs who for a small fee will show off their cooking -- a relic from the culinary Arcadia of yesteryear as immortalised in the films of Youssef Wahbi himself. Instead, I stop over in search of his photo albums. I suppose I was seeking not chefs, but home cooks. I feel a little disheartened. I had hoped, at the start of the trip to Amarante Pyramids, that by entering the inner sanctum of Rendezvous, I might meet the ghost of Wahbi chastising his valet. But the headwaiter is no butler, I discover to my horror over Iftar. Amarante Pyramids is not so much about conservation as about innovation. This is no museum. It is a typical tourist trap. Call it hopeless nostalgia. Call it clinging desperately to an illustrious pioneer of his craft. If you are looking for something different to replace those irksome and commonplace Ramadan Iftars, you might be sorely displeased with Rendezvous, or Amarante Pyramids for that matter. It is, after all, a contemporary take on a leading actor's one-time legendary residence. Rendezvous & Pyramids Café Amarante Pyramids Hotel 29 Abu Hazim Street, Giza Tel: 3781 3311 Iftar for two: LE370
